Tonight's sermon is called Our
Daily Walk. Tonight we will not do much review
of last week's message except to say that Paul prayed exceedingly
for the church at Thessalonica. Tonight we'll look at the instruction
that God gives his people by Paul writing this letter to the
saints at Thessalonica. These words are written for our
learning, they're written for the saints of God through all
the ages, and this is brought forth before us in the holy scriptures,
the word of God, the Bible. They are included in the Bible
and therefore they are words of instruction for God's people.
Now tonight we're going to start in chapter 3 because our first
verse of our text tonight starts with the word furthermore in
1 Thessalonians 4 1. We're going to read 1 Thessalonians
chapter 3 verse 11 to 1 Thessalonians chapter 4 verse 8. Now God Himself
and our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ direct our way unto you. And the Lord make you to increase
and abound in love one toward another, and toward all men,
even as we do toward you. To the end, He may establish
your hearts, unblameable in holiness, before God, even our Father,
at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, with all His saints.
And chapter 4 continues, Furthermore, then we beseech you, brethren,
and exhort you by the Lord Jesus Christ, that as you have received
of us how you ought to walk and to please God, so you would abound
more and more. For you know what commandments
we gave you by the Lord Jesus. For this is the will of God,
even your sanctification, that you should abstain from fornication,
that every one of you should know how to possess his vessel
and sanctification and honor, not in the lust of concupiscence
even as the Gentiles which know not God, that no man go beyond
and defraud his brother in any matter, because the Lord is the
avenger of all such, as we have forewarned you and testified.
For God hath not called us unto uncleanness, but unto holiness.
He therefore that despises, despises not man, but God, who hath also
given unto us his Holy Spirit. In these verses of Scripture,
Paul exhorts the Thessalonians in their daily walk and conduct
to seek to please the Lord. Particularly, he urges sexual
purity, brotherly love, peaceful living, and self-supporting labor. Now the thing most contrary to
a profession in Christ is to live a life of immorality, or
to have a critical spirit, to harbor ill feelings towards the
people of God, to be someone who everyone feels like they're
walking on thin ice around. And you never know with those
kind of people when the dam is going to break and when they're
going to blow up at you and when they're going to quickly go off
on all the people around them. This is contrary to a profession
in Christ. This is not the work of the Holy
Spirit of God. No, this is the works of the
flesh. Now, do we as believers deal
with our own flesh? Yes, absolutely we do, each and
every day. But we are exhorted in these
verses and in many other places to flee sin. to hate sin, and
to realize, just as Paul proclaimed, that we are the chief of sinners. And knowing that, knowing that
precious truth, that we are the chief of sinners, will give us
compassion when living with the lost and with the saved. A hateful,
spiteful, backbiting spirit is not of God. Now confront someone
about their so-called profession, which is of works, and you will
see this spirit come forth. you will see that very spirit
come forth. The supposed love they profess
for people will go right out the window, will go right out
the window when you challenge their false profession of faith.
And so we see that the Holy Spirit has Paul penned these words of
instruction for the Thessalonian believers who lived almost 2000
years ago. And they are just as relevant
for us today. They are instructions for we
who believe in 2020. Now the word furthermore in verse
one assures us that Paul continues in the same vein of encouragement
for the believers at Thessalonica as he did in chapter three. Remember
he had received a good report from Timothy, a really good report
from Timothy, and he told them how much he loved them and he
prayed for them. and he encouraged them. He encouraged
them to hold fast in the faith. We do not find that these brethren
have run the gambit of resistance and persecution from outside
and inside sources. No, Paul knows that more struggles
are coming for them. Paul might have spent time in
giving them more strategies to answer the onslaughts they face,
but the works of the devil are manifold and any such strategy
would be a waste of time. Paul approaches them from where
he approaches all the brethren, their secure estate before God
in Christ. Because of what Christ has done,
because he went to Calvary's cross and died in the room and
place of his people, because he purchased them with his own
precious blood, Paul approaches all the brethren with issues
of correctness and rebuke with their secure estate before God. And notice Paul does not threaten
or badger or use words harsh judgment, he does not condemn
those brethren in his plea for godliness and holiness of life. No, his words are rather comforting
and encouraging. He uses words like, I beseech
you, I request and admonish you to do these things. In the opening
of this chapter, we find the Apostle Paul calling upon the
church to exercise those distinguishing features of character, which
are immediate fruits of regeneration. If we live in the spirit, let
us also walk in the spirit. And we see in these first three
verses that the Apostle Paul calls upon believers to practice
of holiness. And may we who are the people
of God attend to these words before us. They're not written
to the ungodly. They're not written to the unbelieving
world. They're written to born-again, blood-washed believers. So with
that in mind, let's read verses one to three again. Furthermore,
then, we besiege you, brethren, and exhort you by the Lord Jesus,
that as ye have received of us how ye ought to walk and to please
God, so ye would abound more and more. Now the word besiege
in the Greek there means to question, to ask, to request, to entreat. And also note, you have received
of us how ye ought to walk. The apostle here, inspired by
the Holy Spirit of God, has given us the scriptures which are perfectly
clear on the matter of our conduct and conversation in this life
and in this world. Look at verses 2 and 3. you know
what commandment we gave you by the Lord Jesus. For this is
the will of God, even your sanctification, that you should abstain from
fornication." Now remember again, these words are written to the
church at Thessalonica. This is who Paul is speaking
to, not the unawakened carnal and ungodly world. Those he is
writing to, He considers to be in a state of regeneration, that
they're born again by the Holy Spirit of God. How do we know
that? Well, because he says these words,
as ye have received of us, how ye ought to walk and please God.
In verse one, he desires them to abound more and more in the
truth, more and more in the gospel, in the wondrous salvation in
Christ Jesus. We also see the fact that he's
writing to believers by the words bought forth in verse one, by
the Lord Jesus. Now Paul is writing to believers
who by the virtue of their union to Christ know that they are
not their own. Just like we know we're not our
own. We're bought with a price. They knew that as well. And the
believer belongs to Christ. By his mercy, we are one with
Christ. We are children of God. And therefore
we ought to walk as he walked. We see then with these words,
plain proof that Paul considered Thessalonians, believers, brethren,
beloved of the Lord, those who had been born again by the Holy
Spirit of God, those who had heard the Word of God with power,
not in word only, but in power, in the power of the Holy Spirit
of God, and they were called out, their fallen state, and
they received the Lord Jesus Christ as the whole of their
salvation. And they were looking to Christ
and Christ alone for their salvation and their sanctification and
our sanctification. And Paul, by inspiration of the
Holy Spirit of God, brings these words before the elect of God
1,900 plus years ago. And they are here before we who
are the people of God today in 2020. Why? Oh, for our learning,
bringing before us that the elect of God are sinners saved by grace,
and that grace has not only saved God's people, but it's changed
us. It's changed us. We now have
a new direction in our lives. We now have a different motivation
in our lives. We live our life for Christ.
We're directed by the Holy Spirit of God. We used to live in the
flesh. We used to be guided by our dead
nature. We used to be guided by the lust
of the flesh, but now we fight against those things. I love
what brother, Tim James said, here's a good, wonderful quote
by brother Tim James. He said, the admonitions given
here are not in order for them to improve the flesh, but by
concentrating on the things of the spirit, the flesh is subdued. His approach is a confirmation
of the old adage, believers do not do what they do to be righteous. They do what they do because
they are righteous. they're righteous in Christ,
in Christ alone. And beloved, the flesh is subdued
by thinking upon things of the Spirit. The believer is a new
creature in Christ, and they have been made righteous by God
in Christ. They're still sinners while they're
on this earth, but they're considered righteous in Christ by God. And
when we think of Christ, and when we think of the things which
God has done for us, When we think on spiritual things, it'll
subdue the flesh. And the second truth we see brought
forth in these verses is the principle of the new life by
regeneration, which was wrought in the heart of the Thessalonian
believers. The fact of them being regenerated manifests the effect
of this in their lives. In all holy conversation and
godliness we see this brought forth in verses 3-7. For this
is the will of God, even your sanctification, that ye should
abstain from fornication, that every one of you should know
how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honor, not
in the lust of concupiscence, even as the Gentiles which know
not God. Let no man go beyond and defraud
his brother in any matter, because that the Lord is the avenger
of all such, as we also have forewarned you and testified.
For God hath not called us unto uncleanness, but unto holiness. Note the words in verse one,
as ye have received of us, how ye ought to walk. There can be
no walk with God where there's no life from God. And that is
the state of every empty professor of religion and man's works based
salvation. And that's the state of natural
man as well. So there can be no walk with
God where there's no life from God. But the Church, the Ekklesia,
the born-again believers are no longer dead in trespasses
and sins. They have a new life. They have
a new nature. And it was expected that suitable
actions of life would appear with that new nature. He goes
on to say, you have received of us the knowledge of these
things. The text proclaims these things will be evident in the
believer's life. And here's another reason that
Paul brings forth in this text, holy living. Why? To please God. Our motive and objective is not
to please and gratify ourselves or men, but to please God and
to glorify Him and to do His will. I was talking with Brother
Drew this week, and that's one thing that he and I were talking
about, is that we preach the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.
We don't preach it to please men. or to gratify ourselves,
but we preach it to please God, to glorify Him, and to do His
will. He has sent us to preach the
gospel, and that's what we do. We preach the gospel. That's
what God sent preachers to do. We preach the gospel of the Lord
Jesus Christ. Now, why should we seek to please
God? Because it's His will. We see that in verse one. This
is the will of God. This is God's will, that you
be consecrated, separated, and set apart from the world. that
you grow in the grace and knowledge of Christ, and that's only by
the Holy Spirit, and that you abound more and more, that you
attain spiritual maturity. Again, that's only by the grace
and mercy of God. And remember this truth, words
like sanctification and holiness are bound up and the effects
are produced by what God has done for the believer. It's called
the fruit of the spirit. Religion looks at such words
as sanctification and holiness and immediately goes to a notorious
life something you have to do to gain merit and favor with
God. And they wind up inventing works-based concepts and things
that can be measured by man, which is alive from the pit of
hell. No one, not by works of righteousness, which we have
done, but according to his mercy, he has saved us. Verse 1 of this
passage assures us that these brethren are in the Spirit, and
as such should seek by the Spirit to walk in a manner that would
please God. Now, pleasing God is not an unknown
thing, and it's certainly not up to the opinion of man to decide
based on regional taboos or religious efforts at trying to gain merit
and favor with God. or saying, well, that person
certainly isn't growing in grace. I've seen no growth in them.
How can they know if one is growing in grace at all? All they can
see is the outside. These are nothing but man-made
standards or judgments on others. Nothing but words of religious
Pharisees. Remember these words from Psalm
130, verse three. Before you ever say anything
about a brother or sister in Christ, and before you ever say
anything about anybody else, Remember these words in Psalm
130 verse 3. If thou, Lord, shouldest mark
iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand? Well, nobody. If the Lord
marked iniquity, there'd be nobody standing, because by nature we're
all guilty before God. So next time we or someone else
in your presence starts to judge another believer, just remember
these words from God in Psalm 130. If thou, Lord, shouldest
mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand? Beloved of God,
what pleases God according to the scripture is Christ. And
the fact that we have been given God-given faith to look to Christ,
to trust him, is a sure sign that God has shown us favor.
Shown us favor. And we look to Christ in this
world and we walk in the light, don't we? Now note verse two
here. 1 Thessalonians chapter four, verse two. The commandments
referred to in verse two are those reiterated throughout Paul's
epistles. To believe on Christ, to love
God, to love one another, to love the gospel of the Lord Jesus
Christ, to mark out those who oppose the truth, and then to
keep ourselves from idols. These were commandments given
by our Lord to the apostles and they were part and parcel with
the testimony of the gospel. And Paul gives us some instruction
in verses 3 to 5 on how the believer is to conduct themselves in our
daily walk. Let's read 1 Thessalonians chapter
4 verses 3 to 5. For this is the will of God,
even your sanctification, that ye should abstain from fornication.
that every one of you should know how to possess his vessel
in sanctification and honor, not in the lust of concupiscence,
even as the Gentiles which know not God. We see in verse 3 that
the Thessalonian believers were instructed to abstain from fornication,
and this is instruction for we who are the people of God in
our day as well. This is here for our learning.
Abstain from all sexual impurity. Fornication is especially mentioned
here because this was a sin common amongst the Gentiles. It wasn't
considered a sin to them. And also many of their pagan
worship services in those times included sexual activity. And
most translators render it that you abstain from all sexual vice
and immorality such as adultery, incest, and the like. Now the
believer in Christ is sanctified in Christ. And verse 3 makes
it clear that our sanctification is by the will of God. Look at
what it says in verse 3, For this is the will of God, even
your sanctification, that you abstain from fornication. Turn,
if you would, to Hebrews chapter 10. That verse there, verse 3,
makes it very clear that our sanctification is by the will
of God. So marvel at this wonderful truth
that is forever set in the eternal purpose of God. If we are sanctified,
it is by the will of God. Hebrews chapter 10, verses 9
and 10. We saw in verse 3 there that
it's by the will of God. If we're sanctified, it's by
the will of God. this sanctification rests wholly
on the work of Christ. Look at this in Hebrews chapter
10 verses 9 and 10. Then said he, Lo, I come to do
thy will, O God. He taketh away the first that
he may establish the second, by the which will we are sanctified
through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. We see in these verses that Paul
is exhorting the believers concerning the effects of that wondrous
sanctification that we have in Christ Jesus. And he brings forth
what it is to walk in faith. To avoid fornication is a mark
of sanctification. And Paul gives this same admonition
to the Corinthians. And he tied it to the redemption
that Christ has wrought for them. Turn, if you would, to 1 Corinthians
6. 1 Corinthians 6, and we'll read verses 17 to 20. Look at
these words inspired by the Holy Spirit of God for Paul to pen.
Again, for our instruction, just as it was instruction for the
Corinthian believers, this is written for our instruction today. 1 Corinthians chapter 6 verses
17 to 20. But he that is joined unto the
Lord is one spirit. Flee fornication. Every sin that
a man doeth is without the body. But he that committed fornication
sinneth against his own body. What? Know ye not that your body
is a temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have
of God? And ye are not your own? For
ye are bought with a price. Therefore glorify God in your
body, and in your spirit, which are God's. Fornication, which
is often put to all manner of evil, is of itself a sin of community. This is what Brother Tim James
says, is a sin of community, as it cannot be done without
involving someone else. So the concept is often applied
to not only the lust of the flesh, but to idolatry and spiritual
idolatry. Now think of this. Our Lord called
the Pharisees an adulterous generation. Why? Because they refused Christ
as God. And this truth does not discount
the heinous fact that surround fornication. It is everywhere
forbidden. And for the Gentile believers,
it was forbidding what had become common in their life before they
were saved, in their pagan religions, that refused to acknowledge God
as He is. And then this led to all manner
of lasciviousness. We see that about fourth and
verse five of our text. Not in the lust of concupiscence,
even as the Gentiles which know not God. Concupiscence in verse
five in the Greek means desire, craving, longing, desire for
What is forbidden? Lust. So we see here in exhortation
in verse 4, then that we should know how to possess our vessel,
our body, in sanctification and honor. The believer's body is
not to be given over to the gratification of the flesh or passions of the
flesh and cravings as the heathen who know not God. We are to possess
our bodies, our vessels in the text, in sanctification and honor. Let us remember that this sanctification
and honor do not come from the flesh, but from the spirit, as
we see we're to walk worthy of our calling. One man said that
when God saves a sinner, even the old yellow dog on the back
porch is going to find out about it. You know why? Because he
can be kind to that old yellow dog. He may have been mean to
him in the past, but now he's going to be kind to him. Now
let's consider verse 6. It says that no man go beyond
and defraud his brother in any matter. because the Lord is the
avenger of all such as we also have forewarned you and testify."
Now when we look at this verse at first glance, one may conclude
that this verse is about defrauding and cheating others in business,
in trade, and in measures, and that it speaks against taking
advantage of the weak and ignorant. Now we should not do those things
that are mentioned in verse six. We should not defraud our brother
in any matter because the Lord's the avenger of it, of God's people.
I'll tell you what, you don't mess with God's elect. You don't
mess with his people. You just don't. And we should
not do those things mentioned in verse six. But always remember
the context is so important when we're reading verses like this.
Now the context of this verse before us is not about business,
the context of this verse is about sexual purity. The admonition
is for men to not go beyond and defraud his brother. Now the
Greek words for go beyond align with the Hebrew words that mean
go upon or lie with. This lines up with the context.
The word that is translated defraud signifies a greedy, unstable
lust and is almost always used to define illicit sexual behavior. So going beyond and defrauding
the brothers to seek to lie with his wife, turn her into an adulteress. Remember Potiphar's wife sought
to lie with Joseph in the Life of Joseph series. What did he
do? Well, he fled from her presence. And the same is being brought
forth here for our instruction and for our learning as believers.
We're to flee fornication. And again, the times and the
religious practice of the heathens, this was considered normal. So
Paul's exhorting these new believers, this young church comprised of
Jews and Gentiles, but mostly prized of Gentiles, Gentiles
who had been idol worshipers, we know from chapter one, and
he's telling them now to flee fornication. And believers in
Christ are here exhorted to treat one another's marriage and husband
and wives as we want others to deal with us. We're not to covet
or desire another's husband or wife, thereby, from the text
here, defrauding them. We see that in our text, that
there's an admonition to walk by faith, look into Christ. Walk
in faith, look into Christ. And this becomes the singular
thing in the face of all circumstances that exist in this life and in
this world. Whatever circumstance you find yourself in, good or
bad, we are to look to Christ and Christ alone. And looking
to Christ and thinking upon the things of God, thinking upon
the scriptures, thinking upon the gospel and the wonderful
news of salvation in Christ alone and redemption by his shed precious
blood is safe for a believer. Thinking about what Christ has
done for you will keep a believer safe. And verse 7 closes this
portion which we will look at tonight with the words, For God
hath not called us unto uncleanness, but unto holiness. God has not
called his people to take part in any of the unholy practices
which we have read about tonight. Our calling is to holiness in
thought, looks, words, and in action. And looking to the Lord
Jesus Christ in him alone, looking to the one who has purchased
our eternal souls with his own precious blood, looking to him,
looking to he who has had grace and mercy upon us, looking to
he who has regenerated us by the power of the Holy Spirit
of God. And we live a life, we live a
life looking to Christ, battling the flesh each and every day,
and looking to Christ. And when we struggle in this
world, I exhort you as a fellow believer to look to Christ. We're
gonna struggle. We're sinners saved by the grace
of God, and we are going to struggle, but look to Christ. Think about
the wondrous things that Christ has done for you. and it will
strengthen you in times of trouble, in times of trial, in times of
tribulation. We look to Him. We look to Him
when we struggle. We look to Him when we fall.
We look to Him in our weakness. We look to Him. We look to Christ
in all situations. Oh Lord, give your people grace
and strength and wisdom to look to you continuously and give
praise that we are sanctified in Christ and Christ alone. Amen
and amen.